While Emmanuel Macron locks down strategic French places, Ursula von der Leyen does the same within the EU. According to information from the specialist media Rapporteur (formerly Euractiv) this Wednesday, September 30, the head of the European Commission has decided to promote a member of her entourage to a key position in the Union. Jens Flosdorff will indeed be appointed “director of communication with citizens”, a role considered ” permanent » and “high level”.
Unlike certain other positions in the administration, this one was the subject of a call for applications in December 2025. Some 66 people responded, but it is indeed the media advisor, close to the German leader for around twenty years (notably during her long mandates as federal minister under Angela Merkel), who won.
A nomination already criticized
Jens Flosdorff will replace the Swedish Sophia Eriksson Waterschoot – until then interim – and will be responsible for directing the analysis of public opinion, welcoming visitors, interacting with young people but also and above all managing an annual budget of 50 million euros intended for communication campaigns.
To do this, the senior civil servant will pocket an “AD14” grade salary: more than 18,000 euros per month – around 216,000 euros per year – largely exempt from tax and to which are added various allowances.
Barely made official, this announcement is already raising questions in Brussels. “In the past, civil servants in a cabinet were not assigned to services politically dependent on the commissioner for whom they had worked. But today, everything is allowed”deplores a member of the Commission to our colleagues. Enough to relaunch criticism against Ursula von der Leyen, regularly pointing the finger for his ggovernance considered too vertical, its lack of transparency or even its record in terms of energy and migration policy.
“It is the very symbol of a Europe above ground, where unelected technocrats serve each other. Already in 2024, she wanted to impose Markus Pieper, MP from her own party, as envoy for SMEs, against the advice of the selection committees. reminds the Tangwall Campagin of RN MEP Anne-Sophie Frigout, specifying that the latter had ended up “give up under pressure”. The Lepéniste elected official judges that taxpayers “do not have to finance the gifts ofUrsula von der Leyen to his friends » and ensures that his group of Patriots for Europe “will demand accountability”.
